Lu Liu

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, 3620 Locust Walk — Philadelphia, PA 19104
lliu1@wharton.upenn.edu — https://fnce.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/lliu1/
– January 2024 –

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Household Finance, Real Estate, Financial Intermediation, Behavioral Economics

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2023– Assistant Professor in Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

2023– Assistant Professor in Real Estate (by courtesy), The Wharton School, University of
Pennsylvania
2022–2023 Lecturer in Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

2016–2023 Imperial College London, PhD in Finance

2019–2020 MIT Sloan School of Management, Visiting PhD Student
2014 University of Oxford, MSc Financial Economics, with distinction
2012 University of Tübingen, BSc International Economics, with highest honors

WORKING PAPERS

Mortgage Lock-In, Mobility, and Labor Reallocation (with Julia Fonseca)

Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Finance

The Demand for Long-Term Mortgage Contracts and the Role of Collateral
Revise & Resubmit, Review of Economic Studies
Homer Hoyt Dissertation Award (AREUEA, 2024)
Arthur Warga Award for Best Paper in Fixed Income (SFS Cavalcade, 2023)
ESRB Ieke van den Burg Prize for Research on Systemic Risk (2022, Runner-Up)
CEPR Household Finance Best Student Paper Award (2021)

Refinancing Cross-Subsidies in the Mortgage Market (with Jack Fisher, Alessandro Gavazza, Tarun
Ramadorai and Jagdish Tripathy) Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Financial Economics

Non-Salient Fees in the Mortgage Market

Winner of the Michael J. Barclay Young Scholar Award (FRA 2018)

PUBLICATIONS

Reference Dependence in the Housing Market (with Steffen Andersen, Cristian Badarinza, Julie Marx
and Tarun Ramadorai) American Economic Review, 2022

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FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND AWARDS

2024 Homer Hoyt Dissertation Award, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Associa-
tion (AREUEA)
2023 Wharton-INSEAD Alliance Research Grant (approx. $16,000)
2023 Arthur Warga Award for Best Paper in Fixed Income (SFS Cavalcade North America)
2023 NBER Household Finance Research Grant ($15,000)
2023 Zell/Lurie Center & ESG Initiative at Wharton Research Grant
2023 Jacobs Levy Center for Quantitative Financial Research Grant
2022 ESRB Ieke van den Burg Prize for Research on Systemic Risk (Runner-Up)
2021 CEPR Household Finance Best Student Paper Award
2021–2022 Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis Dissertation Fellowship
2020 American Finance Association Student Travel Grant
2018 Michael J. Barclay Award (FRA Annual Meeting)
2018 Financial Research Association (FRA) Student Travel Grant
2017–2021 Imperial College President’s PhD Scholarship
2017–2020 Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship (LISS-DTP)
2017 Dean’s List for Academic Excellence, MRes Business, Imperial College Business School
2014 Dean’s Commendation Award & Dean’s List, MFE, Saı̈d Business School, University of
Oxford
2013 Haniel Graduate Scholarship (Haniel and German National Academic Foundation)
2010 German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship
2008–2014 Fellow of the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des dt. Volkes)

PRESENTATIONS

(Including scheduled)
2024 Conferences: AFA, ASSA/AREUEA, CBS Household & Macroprudential Regulation
Conference
Seminars: CEPR Household Finance (virtual), AREUEA Virtual Seminar, International
Monetary Fund (IMF), Federal Reserve Board

2023 Conferences: ASSA/AREUEA, UCLA/FRBSF/Federal Reserve Board Conference on Hous-

ing, Financial Markets, and Monetary Policy, SFS Cavalcade North America, AREUEA
National Conference, Summer Real Estate Research Symposium, Western Finance As-
sociation (WFA), NBER Summer Institute (Household Finance), NBER Summer In-
stitute (Real Estate), UNC Junior Finance Conference, European Finance Association
(EFA), Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics (SITE, Financial Regulation), Red
Rock Finance Conference, MFR Housing, Household Debt, and the Macroeconomy
Conference*, Holden Conference*, WAPFIN (NYU), CEPR European Conference on
Household Finance, New Perspectives on Consumer Behavior in Credit and Payments
Markets (Philadelphia Fed), Georgetown-Clark Symposium on Global Real Estate, NBER
Corporate Finance Fall Meeting*, USC Macro Finance Conference

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 Seminars: Harvard Business School, Wharton Applied Economics Workshop, Federal Re-
serve Bank of Philadelphia, Freddie Mac Research Seminar (virtual), Wharton (Finance),
Toulouse School of Economics, Northwestern Kellogg, Columbia Business School, Fed-
eral Reserve Bank of New York, Duke Fuqua, Washington University in St. Louis Olin,
Stanford GSB
2022 Conferences: CEPR European Workshop in Household Finance*, Philadelphia Fed Mort-
gage Market Research Conference, Bank of England Household Finance and Housing
Workshop*, NBER Summer Institute (Household Finance)*, NBER Summer Institute
(Real Estate), EFA*, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics (SITE, IO of Healthcare
and Consumer Finance Markets), Texas Finance Festival, Urban Economics Associa-
tion (North America), Chicago Household Finance Conference, CEAR-RSI Household
Finance Workshop

Seminars: Rochester Simon, IESE, Frankfurt School, Berkeley Haas (Real Estate), BI Nor-
wegian, Oxford Saı̈d Business School, INSEAD, Colorado Boulder, Johns Hopkins Carey,
EIEF, Rice University, Federal Reserve Board, Maryland Smith, University of Washington
Foster, Dartmouth Tuck, NYU Stern, Wharton (Real Estate), Wharton (Finance), Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, HEC Paris, London Business School, Bank of Canada,
Bonn MacroFinance Virtual Seminar, USI Lugano

2021 Conferences/Seminars: Bank of England Workshop on Household Finance and Hous-

ing*, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics (SITE, Financial Regulation)*, CEPR
European Workshop on Household Finance (NUS/virtual)

2020 Conferences/Seminars: American Finance Association (AFA, poster), MIT Sloan Student
Finance Lunch, Behavioral Economics Annual Meeting (BEAM, Berkeley/virtual)*,
Cambridge University Virtual Real Estate Seminar*, NBER Summer Institute (Real
Estate)*, European Finance Association (EFA)*

2019 Conferences/Seminars: Bank of England Brown Bag, CEPR Household Finance (Lund),
King’s College Conference on Financial Markets*, FCA/Imperial Conference on House-
hold Decision-Making, FCA Research Seminar, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Eco-
nomics (SITE, Financial Regulation)*, MIT Finance Student Workshop, CEPR Household
Finance (Rhodes)*
2018 Conferences/Seminars: RES Symposium of Junior Researchers (USussex), Whitebox Ad-
visors Conference (Yale SOM), Annual Meeting of the Financial Research Association
(FRA, Las Vegas), AFFECT Showcasing Women in Finance (Stockholm)
(*: conference presentation by co-author)

TEACHING

The Wharton School

2023– The Finance of Buyouts and Acquisitions (Undergraduate)
Imperial College London
2021–2022 Teaching Assistant, Corporate Finance (MSc)
2021 Teaching Assistant, Corporate Dealmaking (MSc)
2019 Teaching Assistant, Big Data in Finance (MSc)
2018 Teaching Assistant, Banks, Regulation and Monetary Policy (MSc)

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

2023–2024 Wharton Junior Recruiting Committee

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2022–2023 Co-organizer, Wharton External Finance Seminar series

Discussions
2024 American Finance Association (AFA): Aiello, Kotter and Schubert, “The Real Effects of
Household Financial Constraints: When Money Moves In”
2023 IHA Summit on Housing Affordability: Schubert and Gorback, “The Housing Market
Effect of Cultural Affinity for Homeownership”
Western Finance Association (WFA): Ahern and Giacoletti, “The Redistribution of
Housing Wealth Caused by Rent Control”
Adam Smith Workshop: Berger, Milbradt, Tourre, and Vavra, “Refinancing Frictions,
Mortgage Pricing and Redistribution”
American Finance Association (AFA): Galaasen and Raja, “The Dynamics of Stock
Market Participation”
2022 National Bank of Belgium (NBB) Conference: Emiris, Koulischer, and Spaenjers, “Bank
Competition and Bargaining Over Refinancing”
Urban Economics Association (UEA) North America: Aastveit, Juelsrud and Getz Wold,
“The Leverage-Liquidity Trade-Off Of Mortgage Regulation”
Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS): Agarwal, Chomsisengphet, Kiefer,
Kiefer, and Medina, “Refinancing Inequality During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
2018 CEPR European Workshop on Household Finance: Johnson, “Are Mortgage Regulations
Affecting Entrepreneurship?”
Refereeing
American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal
of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and
Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Public Economics, Review of Financial Studies
Program Committee
MFA (2023, 2024), Mortgage Market Research Conference (Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia, 2024), SFS Cavalcade NA (2024), WFA (2024)

OTHER EMPLOYMENT

2023– Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Visiting Scholar

2022– Bank of England, Academic Visitor
2016–2022 Bank of England, Academic Visitor & Part-time Researcher
2017 Bank of England, PhD Intern, Macroprudential Strategy (Financial Stability)
2014–2016 Bank of England, Economist, Macro Financial Analysis Division (Monetary Analysis)
2012–2013 International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group), Investment Analyst Intern
(Infrastructure Project Finance)

OTHER

Software Matlab, Python, Stata, Latex

Languages German (native), English and Chinese (fluent), French (intermediate)
Nationality German
Gender Female

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